East West Partners and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Acquire Premiere Canadian Rockies Resort

On November 1, 2007, East West Partners and Morgan Stanley Real Estate announced the acquisition of Three Sisters Mountain Village, an 1,800 acre partially completed Canadian Rockies resort community near Banff, Alberta. East West Partners will work closely with the existing management team to complete the development of the resort, which will include two golf courses and private residences among other amenities.

The Three Sisters Mountain Village resort is located in the Canadian Rocky Mountains in the Bow River Valley, at the gateway to Banff National Park and Lake Louise, adjacent to the historic mining town of Canmore. The resort property represents approximately 80 per cent of all developable lands in the Banff-Canmore corridor. Construction began in 1999 and the community includes an existing acclaimed golf course, Stewart Creek Golf and Country Club. The Three Sisters name is derived from the mountain range of the same name, with its three distinctive, snow-covered peaks that dominate views from the property.

East West is a Colorado-based resort real estate development company devoted to building, selling, managing and supporting high-quality real estate in communities located in some of the most sought-after natural environments in the world, including Beaver Creek Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek, Colorado; the Westin Riverfront Resort and Spa at the base of Beaver Creek Mountain; and The Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe, located at North Lake Tahoe in California. Morgan Stanley Real Estate is one of the world's largest real estate investors with $68 billion in real estate assets under management globally and acquisitions since 1991 totalling $135.9 billion in real estate assets worldwide.

Under the acquisition agreement, Morgan Stanley Real Estate acquired a controlling interest in Three Sisters Mountain Village for an undisclosed purchase price. Debt financing for the acquisition was provided by HSBC Bank Canada. Textron Financial Canada Limited provided specific debt financing relating to the Stewart Creek Golf Course. Specific debt financing relating to the Stewart Creek Golf Course was provided by Textron Financial Canada Limited, a subsidiary of Textron Financial Corporation, a diversified commercial finance company with $11 billion in managed receivables and core businesses in aviation finance, asset-based lending, distribution finance, golf finance, resort finance and structured capital.
Morgan Stanley Real Estate was represented by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, with a team that included Cameron Rusaw, Robin Upshall and Jonathan Ip (M&A/corporate), Bob Bauer, Don Stanbury, Gabriella Lombardi, and Natasa Birac (real estate), Duncan Osborne (tax) and Sarah Powell (environmental), with the assistance of Cheryl Gottselig, Beth Vogel, Michael Martin, Neil Prendergast and Simon Lee of Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP.

The selling shareholders were represented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP with a team that included Don Boykiw and Simon Baines (M&A/corporate), Sherri Fountain and Craig Harkness (real estate) and Nancy Diep (tax).

Three Sisters Mountain Village was represented by a team that included Don MacKimmie and Ian MacRae (commercial real estate), Rujuta Patel and Sarah Goard-Baker (corporate) of Macleod Dixon LLP.

Gary Cochrane of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP acted for HSBC Bank Canada in the debt financing for the transaction. Anjili Bahadoorsingh of Heenan Blaikie LLP acted for Textron Financial Canada Limited.

Lawyer(s)

Natasa Milojevic Donald M. Boykiw Nancy Diep Gabriella Lombardi Simon C. Baines Rujuta Patel Anjili I. Bahadoorsingh Duncan G. Osborne Craig S. Harkness Sarah V. Powell Cheryl C. Gottselig Donald S. MacKimmie Michael G. Martin Ian E. MacRae Beth E. Vogel Cameron M. Rusaw Neil Prendergast Gary J. Cochrane Donald C. Stanbury Sherri L. Fountain Jonathan Ip Robin Upshall

Firm(s)

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP Dentons Canada LLP